Eike Kusch
Eike Kusch is the protagonist of Shadow of Memories. A young man visiting the small German town Lebensbaum, he is killed by an unknown assailant, only to be offered by the mysterious Homunculus a second chance at life and an opportunity to prevent his murder. Biography Past Eike's past is a mystery, even to himself, thought th eexact details of what he remembers is unknown. Little is known about Eike’s personal life before going to Lebensbaum. He admits that he has no recollection of his parents, nor does he reveal anything about his childhood. It is unknown if he has a job or if he is even aware of his gaps in memory. In reality, Eike is actually Dr. Wolfgang Wagner, rejuvenated through a deal with Homunculus for eternal youth; his memory was wiped by the djinn when Wagner trapped him back into the Philosopher’s Stone after their deal. As soon as his memory was wiped, the de-aged Wagner held onto the stone, finding it beatiful, spending the next 417 years wandering the world with his memory fading from time to time. During his travels, he took up the name Eike Kusch and apparently lost the stone, thought is is likely that his amnesia caused him to forget it at the start of the game.. At some point, he became friends with Eckart Brum, the owner of a museum, during a previous visit to Lebensbaum, even giving him his phone number. On 8th March 2001, Eike eventually explored Lebensbaum again, and entered the local café. Death While leaving the cafe, Eike is stabbed by an unknown assailant and dies. He awakens however to find himself in Homunculus's realm, where the mysterious being communicates with Eike. At first, Eike is skeptical and ready to reject Homunculus's offer to prevent his death, thinking the latter to be the devil. However, Eike eventually agrees and is given the digipad, before he is returned to a point before his death. Taking over his past body, Eike encounters the mysterious fortune teller for the first time and is told of when his death is going to take place, along with a hint of when it will take place. Going back an hour into the past, Eike succeeds in engineering his survival by convincing the three maidens to be present at the time of his death. This makes his would be killer change his min, giving Eike a chance to continue preventing his death. Travels Through Time Due to the nature of time travel, there are many versions of Eike who originate from alternate timelines, the most common being the version who didn't get the egg letter and the version who did get the egg letter. As a result, it is difficult to make it clear what happened after preventing his first death and before he learns the identity of his killer. However, it is known he had many more attempts on his life and what he generally did to prevent them: he was nearly killed in a burning building, but went back in time and prevented the fire; he was stabbed again, but changed history so the killer couldn't hide behind a tree; he was killed by a falling vase, but prevented history by resulting in the destruction of the vase before it could fall; he was stabbed yet again, but prevented it by getting a sort of iron plate; he was poisoned, but prevented it by drinking the antidote by turning the art museum into a library; he was run over, but prevented it by making Oleg Franssen famous; and finally he is pushed off a tower, but prevents it by making sure he has a rope to hold on to. It is also known that through traveling in time, he: met the Wagner family; lost Dana into the time stream; met three members of the Franssen family; interacted with a younger version of his friend Eckart Brum and may have saved his wife; he med Eckart's great-grandfather and his chilldren; and changed history a number of times. Nearing the End Eventually, Eike finally found Dana in 1584 and regained the stone, while deciding Dana's fate. He returned to the Wagner house and gave it to Wolfgang Wagner, his past self thought neither knew this, and traveled ten days later to find the house in ruins. Upon returning to the present however Eike gets a phone call from Hugo, who had been his killer all along. Hugo blames Eike for the disappearance of his father due to eike givign him the stone, thus resulting in Homunculus being freed. Hugo was visited by a future version of himself and was given a time machine to take his revenge, and does so by trying to kill Eike. However, unknown to Hugo, the boy's actions only result in the vents he was trying to prevent, and he now wants Eike to bring him Homunculus, or he will harm his hostage (either Margarete or Dana). At this point, the timelines diverge into different futures. Ending A Ending AB Ending B1 Ending B2 Ending C Ending D Ending E The Power of Knowledge Ending EX1 Ending EX2 The End of Eike Kusch Regardless of how he did it, Eike fades from existence as history changes forever, altering the lives of every character he met in his life as he remained as Wolfgang Wagner and presumably died near the end of the sixteenth century. In the new alternate timeline created, a man who look exactly like Eike can be seen walking through town only to be hit by a ball. The man return the ball to a young boy who greatly resembles Hugo, before each go their separate ways. It remains unknown if this lookalike is a reincarnation of Eike or simply a descendant of Wolfgang Wagner. Personality A dominant part of Eike's personality is his determination, with him always finding a way to prevent his death. Eike's death is a powerful influence over his decisions, as Eike desperately wants to survive. However, Eike's determination qualities can also be seen when he does things that he doesn't have to, such as risking his life to save Miriam Brum or going into the burning bar to save the Barman. This highlights his generally selfless and heroic personality. Another quality that Eike surprisingly has is calmness. Despite being hunted by a murderer, Eike continues to be calm and patient about things, rarely ever becoming stressed or worried. It is unlikely that this is caused by overconfidence, but could serve as a hint to the fact that despite his reoccurring amnesia, Eke remembers how long he has lived and how old he is on a subconscious level. This could mean his calmness and patience originates form the fact that he has seen far too much to be surprised or feel that he needs to rush things. Physical Appearance Eike Kusch has long, blond hair tied back into a pony tail. He is always seen wearing a green jacket and black trousers, with brown shoes. Relationships Homunculus Eckart Brum Dana Margarete Wagner Hugo Wagner Helena Wagner Wolfgang Wagner Helena Wagner/The Fortune Teller Oleg Franssen Mr. Franssen Karl Franssen Miriam Brum Alfred Brum Sibylla Brum Barman Interactions with Past/Future Selves It has been shown that there are five, alternate future versions of Eike Kusch and three alternate past versions. However, they are only considered alternate from the point of view from one of two versions of Eike; one who received the egg letter and the one that did not. The future versions have always been identified as the juggler or street performer. The first time Eike meets the juggler, his identity is blurry. He is either a alternate Eike who will give Eike a egg like note, while also being a version of Eike the player can play as, or a unknown version who who is suspected to have somehow acquired the juggler outfit and went back in time to prevent Eike's first death. However, he may also be a alternate version of the juggler with the egg letter, who simply failed to interact with Eike but still succeeded in preventing his future death. The second juggler is a version if Eike the player can be. This Eike needed a metal plate of some kind to prevent his death. To do this, he went back in time with an egg letter which he got from Sybilla in 1902 and threw it at his past self to do the work for him. This one is found in a photo of the Brums if Eike the egg letter, due to Eike existing in the timeline created from the juggler. This version of the juggler has a alternate version who traveled to the timeline that still had the tree, while the prime version traveled to a timeline with either flowers or a statue. The third juggler is never actually seen by Eike and it is unclear what timeline he originated from, but it is clear that he was briefly seen by Karl Franssen. He is then at some point painted by memory by the artist, with the painting ending up in the Brum art museum in many possible timelines. However, the painting is altered by a alternate Eike Kusch whose timeline may or may not have been very different from the juggler's, resulting in him having his mask off. It is not known how this alteration came to be, but it is possible Franssen somehow managed to connect the Eike he met and the juggler he saw. The final version of the juggler seen existed in a possible future for the Eike in the timeline created from the many possible endings. Like the second juggler, the one who needs his past self to get a metal plate, this version of the juggler comes from the future for the reason to give Eike a egg like letter while also preventing his original death. However, he instead did it to deliver information about the philosopher's stone instead to get a metal plate. It is not known what caused this Eike to go back in time for this reason. However, it might be that in his future, he took too long to do anything and lost the philosopher's stone, making him go back to convince his past self to do something quicker than he did. As the juggler, Eike will encounter a alternate past version from a timeline where the tree was replaced with flowers or a statue of himself. The other alternate past version is a Eike who met the juggler with the note while still in the timeline with the tree and the only playable alternate past Eike. A more obvious example of how Eike interacted with his past self is when he meets Wolfgang Wagner in the 1580s. It is because of Eike that Wagner had the philosopher's stoen to release Homunculus, thus resulting in Wagner being de-aged into Eike. Another obvious example is how he can interact with his past self who was sleeping in the diner. When he touched his past self, both Eike's are erased from existence. Alternate Eike Theory There is a theory that suggests that Eike may not be Wolfgang Wagner with immortality, but instead his descendant. When Eike found Homunculus in the destroyed lab in the 1580s, Homunculus didn't recognize Eike, which he would know if he had made Eike young. Also, Homunculus had been trapped back in the stone following this event. In ending E, Homunculus said that he had instead made Wolfgang Wagner vanish instead of making him young. While the djinn may have lied, it is possible that there are two timelines that interact at that point: in one timeline Eike is Dr Wagner while in the other he is a descendant of Dana, Wagner's biological daughter, or Hugo. This theory is supported in the EX ending, where a man and boy who look like Eike and Hugo respectively are seen in the present, suggesting both are descended from the Wagner family. This theory is supported by the fact that nearly every character, such as Oleg Franssen, has an ancestor who looks just like them, so Eike looking like Wagner isn't impossible. This theory could apply to Homunculus as well: Homunculus is first freed in timeline A and then resealed, only for the de-aged Wagner to take him into timeline B where he is fully released and free to interact with both timelines. However, there could be other theories. Trivia * The original name for the game,'' Shadow of Memories'', is a hint towards the fact that Eike suffers from amnesia and can't remember his past as Wolfgang Wagner. However, the American name Shadow of Destiny, could be a reference to how the future is always changing and isn't clear, or a reference to how Wolfgang Wagner's future is filled with gaps in his memory. Category:Time Travellers